Reporter Al Koski dead at 82

Al Koski, a downstate journalist who spent decades investigating the notorious 1968 murders of the Robison family at their Good Hart summer cottage, died recently at age 82.

Koski, a Royal Oak resident, began reporting on the aftermath of the June 1968 killings — which took the lives of metro Detroit businessman Richard Robison, his wife, Shirley, and their four children — while working at a suburban weekly, The Dearborn Guide. Through the years he penned stories on the case for numerous other publications, including the News-Review.

His career included stints with The Daily Tribune in Royal Oak, the now-defunct Detroit Times and Detroit-area radio stations such as WXYZ and WKNR.

In a Feb. 12 story, The Daily Tribune noted that Koski’s health had been on the decline in recent years because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Koski went to great lengths in his quest to understand the circumstances surrounding the yet-to-be-closed murder case from northern Emmet County. When furnishings at Richard Robison’s office went up for tax sale after his death, Koski acquired file cabinets containing records from the business. He also obtained extensive home movie footage of the Robison family and arranged for its conversion to DVD format in recent years.

Advertisement

Through the years, Koski occasionally made contact with the Emmet County Sheriff’s Department about the case.

“His world revolved around that (case),” said Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin. “He was just an old-time investigative reporter — quite a character, and he had a lot of interesting stories.”

During a phone interview with the News-Review — around the time of the murders’ 40th anniversary — Koski noted that he was hoping to complete a book about the case before his death — a goal he ultimately didn’t fulfill.

“It was a good all-American family, those (movies) show you,” Koski said of the Robisons in 2008. “It sure was, but the theme (for the book) right now is, what did Dick Robison get into?”

Many in law enforcement who have investigated the case suspect Joseph Scolaro — a business associate of Richard Robison — played a key part in the crime. Scolaro’s apparent embezzlement from Robison's firm was thought to be a subject of a phone confrontation the two had hours before the murders. Based on ballistic evidence, Koski also believed Scolaro was a likely culprit, although he wasn’t sure if Robison’s business associate had help in the crime.

Scolaro committed suicide in 1973, at a time when the Oakland County prosecutor’s office was on track to file murder conspiracy charges against him.

In 2003, the Emmet County Sheriff’s Department submitted three pubic hairs found on Shirley Robison's body — that hadn't appeared to come from any members of the Robison family — to a Michigan State Police lab for possible DNA examination, along with Shirley's clothing. Koski, then 75, reported for the News-Review on the ultimately unfruitful effort to bring closure to the case, using a writing style that was a throwback to the era when he was a full-time journalist.